Sausage Party, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s very adult animation about a frankfurter called Frank’s efforts to stuff himself into Brenda the bun, has been given an 11 rating in Sweden, meaning viewers as young as seven can see it when accompanied by a grownup.
The film centres on foodstuffs having a crisis of faith after realising that human beings are not gods waiting to whisk them away to the great beyond, but are simply hungry. Featuring the voices of Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill and Edward Norton, it was given a 15 certificate in the UK, as it features scenes of drug-taking, oral sex, anal sex, racial slurs and even potential rape. “Sausage Party is not a family film,” notes one Swedish cinema website.
It’s not the first time the film has been seen by children. In June, a cinema in California accidentally screened the Sausage Party trailer to families waiting to watch the Disney-Pixar adventure Finding Dory. The trailer, which heavily features the word “fuck”, also includes a scene in which a pair of baby carrots are eaten. “They’re eating fucking children!” one character screams.
The film’s more risque elements have been highlighted by a number of media monitoring sites, including one that has outlined the adult content in explicit detail. One note reads: “A line of dancing olives bends over away from the camera to expose their pit holes.”
Sweden’s film certification programme is not designed to recommend suitability, but to judge the relative risk of filmed material to a child’s wellbeing. Its rating system divides films into “All ages”, 7 (for children under the age of seven, accompanied by an adult), 11 (for ages 7-11, accompanied by an adult) and Not Approved/15 (for those over the age of 15).
